While Congresswoman Eddie Bernice is locked in her own battle on Capitol Hill over the future of Obamacare, she took time Wednesday to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of two longstanding health care programs: Medicare and Medicaid.
"Well, happy birthday," Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, said to nearly 40 members of the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans who waited patiently to dig into a birthday cake decorated with the words "Happy 52 Medicare & Medicaid!"
Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, and Medicaid, a state and federally funded program that offers health coverage to low-income people, were signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The programs were an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935.
"As long as I breathe, I will support it," Johnson, who has represented Texas' 30th District since 1993, said about the programs.
More than five decades after Medicaid and Medicare became law, legislators are fighting over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature legislation.Senate Republicans failed last week to pass a "skinny" repeal of the ACA.
Johnson said the latest feud has shown that Republicans "actually defeated themselves in a lot of ways," in their attempts to figure out the next steps for Obamacare.
"The irresponsibility of Republicans is put on stage," she said.
Johnson was followed Wednesday by Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, who called Medicare and Medicaid "beneficial to all Americans."
Thompson said Texans' biggest fight is with the state legislature, where Republican lawmakers have kept the state from expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Texas ranks dead last in the country for its residents' access to health care, according to areport released in July by the Episcopal Health Foundation.
"Medicaid, Medicare … it has been beneficial to all Americans," Johnson said. "This is about Texans who need services."
On Tuesday, the Texas House tentatively approved a bill that would partially reverse looming increases in retired teachers' out-of-pocket expenses on health care.
SOURCE: Dallas Morning News
